This thread contains user modifications for Plant Tycoon. These modifications (or Mods) have been created by users and are not supported by LDW. Use these modifications at your own risk. If using them causes problems for your game, please do not request support from LDW. Although many people are using this mod successfully, the use of the Virtual Seed Tray has caused the loss of seeds under certain conditions. Make sure that you understand the risks of using this utility. It's also a good idea to back up your game files periodically.
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------------- Stop!! --- Read the following note!! --- Stop!!

NOTE!!! This utility is now finished and available in the Plant Tycoon Guide section of the forum.

Not sure which seeds to keep and which to trash? Now you can save them all!
Virtual Seed Tray is a plant tycoon utility that allows you to save ALL your extra seeds.

To use it, just click the boxes next to the seeds you want to move, and then click either the >>> or the <<< to move the seeds to the appropriate list. To select a different plant tycoon save game, use the drop down box at the top.

Here is an image with the controls marked:



Here is a close up image without all those nasty markings:



You get not one, not two, not three, but five (count 'em, five!) virtual seed trays to store your seeds (one virtual seed tray for each game you are playing). How many seeds can just one seed tray store? 10? 25? 100? 1000? No! each of your virtual seed trays is virtually limitless!

How much would you pay for even just one of these magnificent trays?
... $500? ... $50? ... $5? ... 50¢ ... 5¢ ?

If you order now, you get the trays, the program, the controls, the listboxes, the checkboxes, the buttons, the labels, all for an unbelievably low price of nothing! you read it right, nothing!

Don't wait till they are all gone, order now!

As a special thank you, if you order in the next 30 minutes, we will include at no extra charge the automatic seed bubble sorter! Now all your seeds will be arranged in order of foliage/flower, following the same order of the list of foliage/flowers in the "Borg's Chart" line of products!

Don't Wait! Order Now! Thoughts and Comments are Welcome!!

would like to order the virtual seed trays

me, me, I'll order one too. looks good. now all I can say is when??

I can't wait to see it & to use it, well done.

cool, just have to wait.

It's FREE! And I'm testing it now! Neener, neener, neener!! We will post it in the Guides after a bit more testing!

well now if that isnt a teaser lol.

Ok my friends say I have to learn patience so guess I am gonna learn it now.

Bec

YES, YES ,I WANT IT, NOW, BUT DON'T I GET ONE OF THE KNIVES THAT CUT THROUGH BEER CANS FOR FREE ALSO!!! I AM SO CLOSE TO THE END OF THE GAME AND I AM FINDING THAT I LOST SEED I NOW NEED, YOUR PROGRAM LOOKS GREAT, CAN'T WAIT. I WISHED TODAY THAT AT THE END OF THE GAME I COULD HAVE A PICTURE OF ALL THE PLANTS. IS THIS GOING TO BE POSSIBLE WITH YOUR PROGRAM?

This sounds like something that I could really use....how do we get it???? Please let me know!!!....I've been going nuts with these small seed trays. Can't keep them all...don't know which to throw away.

Mon

Yes, I would love to have this also! Thanks Borg!! You are great!!
♥♥ simplyDonna

Talk about wanting to tap u borg..... I've trashed so many seeds and now u come to the rescue. OMG!!!!! I have got to have a virtual seed tray.......LadyCFII drop everything, this is PRIORITY ONE!!!!!!!!!lol

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE hurry up with this! I want it. I tossed soooo many seeds that I wish I still had.

Thanks again BORG!!!!! I don't know where I would be in this game without you!

Wow Borg, just WOW!

Marcey

Hi Borg,

I'll pay you to design the seed tray for the Mac!!! Just this week I had decided not to play for a while because of having to choose which seed to keep or toss. I know that a lot of people have complained of this and you have once again, come to the rescue.

I have all 6 Magic Plants and still waiting to catch the last 3 bugs. I've been checking the forum every day but have not as yet participated but when I saw your entry, I had to.

I thank you for your charts and all your efforts. So, hopefully, you can create the virtual seed tray for the Mac as well.

Begonia 54

You are very welcome, I'm glad you like the charts.

I would write a mac version for free if I had access to a mac. I've actually never even seen a mac. as it is I barely have a PC (don't laugh.. I am using a 7 year old Compaq with 128MB RAM)

Best Wishes,
Borg

Love the new title. I can't believe you have been able to do all that on that computer, well done.

I would like one too but I live in a 7 hour time change or so - I presume you are in US? Can I still have it for no charge? Or do I have to pay because I was asleep when the announcement came out??

Great, Brilliant Programmer!!
I have printed some of your charts and it's always near my computer while I play PT!! It's so helpful!!
Now, I'm overflowing with seeds!! I'd really like to have your "Virtual Seeds Tray"
Thanks a lot for your helpful work!!

here are the latest pictures!



new features!
toggling checkboxes to check all seeds or no seeds!
Remove Lineage Button to help you identify your seeds!

If you are making your own breeding charts, don't remove your lineages though until after you have written down all the crossbreeding information!

Borg, this is a great add on.

Barbara, Coiner put their email addy in a post above. Shouldn't it be removed for Coiner's security.

Personally, I don't think it is wise to post an email addy on public websites; you might get more spam and who knows what from that one innocent post.

Brilliant Programmer, yes you are. Well done, can't wait to see and use it for myself.
AFTER I HAVE FINISHED THE GAME MYSELF.

PS If it goes up.

Borg saves the day once again!!

cool program Borg. cant wait to try it.

I was just thinking....

Someone could use a Virtual Seed tray and easly get ALL the Plant Tycoon Plant species, cheating. I won't tell how, but many can probaby figure out how to....

I will tell ONLY staff how to do this form of 'cheating'.

HEY IS THERE A PICTURE OF THE SEEDS SO YOU KNOW THE NAMES OF THEM I KNOW WHEN THEY GROW AFTER YOU PLANT THEM YOU SEE THE NAME TO THE LEFT IN THE BOX BUT HOW DO YOU SEE THE NAMES OF YOUR SEEDS IN YOUR SEED TRAY WITHOUT HAVING TO PLANT IT TO GET THE NAME????? PLEASE HELP THANKS PATTY

Will it be mac compatible???

no Jazzo, sorry

Oh my! Will definitely have to try this.

Jazzo, I'm going to see if we can do a Mac version of the Virtual Seed Tray.

For everyone who is worried about this being a way to cheat, here are some things to think about:

• It only stores seeds that the player already has
• It doesn't give players seeds that they haven't already discovered or purchased
• It doesn't reveal any more information than what is already available from the many breeding charts and the forums
• It is being designed so that seeds can be stored and retrieved only by the player slot that created them. Trying to use them with a different game/player slot will delete the Virtual Seed Tray and it will be gone.
• It may actually encourage people to rely less on [other people's] breeding charts if they are not worried about losing seeds, which would actually reduce the amount of cheating that's already going on.

That's only my opinion, of course.

that'll be great.

Has this been released for us to use, LadyCFII?

LMK2 if you make a Mac version!

No, it hasn't been released yet. Borg and I are still working on tweaking and testing it.

Barbara, we always value your opinion -- because it is usually right on target.

Virtual Seed Tray Update

• I may be wrong, but I think this utility is very very close to being released** ! yay!
• So far, no bugs have been found during beta-testing!
• Checkbox toggles and a remove-lineage button have been added!
• security issues have been re-addressed to ensure the program cannot be used for cheating! (*waves* at Charley )

** The fine print:

LadyCFII has done a tremendous job beta-testing and offering suggestions. I believe very soon the next phase will be to offer the program to a very small group of professional beta-testers   a moderate number of computer literate individuals  anyone who is breathing and willing to beta-test it, with the understanding that large scale testing has not been done yet.

what this means is there is a very small possibility of losing seeds or even a saved game I suppose. i want everyone to know that that has not happened in beta-testing so far, but that does not mean it could not happen.

So to be clear, I repeat, I want everyone to know up front that since this has not been tested on a widespread basis, the potential does exists for unseen, unexpected errors.

Before you decide to download this utility and use it, know that you are using it "at your own risk." If you do not wish to accept this risk, you may wish to wait several weeks or months during which time, should errors be uncovered by other beta-testers, they will be corrected.

If you DO decide to beta-test the utility, be sure to make backup copies of all of your plant tycoon save games before you start. Instructions for making backup copies of your plant tycoon save games can be found in the guide section HERE.



Warm Regards to All,
-Borg

PS: I almost forgot! A big thank you to LadyCFII for my new title! I only hope I can live up to it!

i'm totally down to beta-test!

i didn't do very smart breeding so far so even if i DID lose my game i wouldn't care much..

i'm justing waiting for it to be available!

Have sent both Borg and LadyCFII a PM, asking to be a tester. I am willing to give up an older game I have, on USB to help in the greater good of Plant Tycoon. I also would like to thank Borg and LadyCFII for addressing Charley's concerns.

Thank you for your time Borg.

Since we are "BORG", we should have known about this utility the moment borg thought of it.

lp "seven" of p

I would definitely be interested in trying out the Virtual Seed Tray. As a Mac user, I appreciate all your efforts in trying to make this utility work. I love this game and the best is when you discover something new. The charts have been great but I have enjoyed discovering them on my own. I had stopped playing this weekend, once I had started getting into the Tier 4 level of plants. I found it to be more stressful in deciding what to keep or not and decided not to deal with it. I figured I'd wait till either there was an update to the game. So I thank you and look forward to trying this out when it is available.

I AM ALL FOR THE EXTRA TRAY SPACE, I AM NEW TO THIS FORUM COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO GET THE PROGRAM YOU HAVE FOR FREE FOR THE SEED TRAYS??

TY TY TY TENNESSEESHAR56

It isn't available yet as it's still being tested.

LadyCFII,
Will this be in the newsletter? This will be a big help especially for those of us who are cross pollunating trying to find the magic plants.
This is truly exciting news. Thank you so much.

We don't usually put anything in the newsletter that isn't an official LDW offering. The Virtual Seed Tray is entirely Borg's creation, not something sponsored by LDW, although I am helping him test it and making suggestions along the way. It will be announced here when it's ready, and then placed in the Guides section, where everyone who wants it can download it.

Is this for real? How do you order? I want one.

Read my post just above yours, which tells how we will make it available.

I'd be willing to test. How do you sign up for it?

I will test also if given that choice!

Awwwww! um, whats that? newsletter? there is a newsletter?

--------------------------
Virtual Seed Tray Update

The seeds that plant tycoon starts players with are a mystery until they are planted. They do not have pictures of their parent plants on the seed page to be able to figure out what they are. Similarly, store-bought seeds do not identify themselves to the world, they must be planted to know what they are. So to keep the identity of these seeds a mystery, these seeds are now only identified as "mystery seed" by the seed tray program.

Using the picture of the seed in plant tycoon and using sfrose's wonderful seed guide pictures, one can narrow down the mystery seed in plant tycoon to what the tier of the flower is, and what the foliage is. So the suggestion has been made, instead of calling all these seeds "mystery seed", call them "Tier I Reptans" or "Tier IV Ball Cactus" etc.

The suggestion has also been made to give the option of removing the parent lineage from all seeds or from only the seeds that have been checked off.

Another suggestion has been made that the user be given the option to turn off having the seeds sorted and then stored back to the game's seed tray.

if no bugs are found, i think the program is darn close to being released to everyone. thank you all so much for being patient!

Yep! There's an LDW Newsletter. You can sign up to receive it on our Main Web Page (in the lower left part of the page), and you can always find a link to the current newsletter in this thread.

It looks like the Virtual Seed Tray has surpassed the Tribe Selector in both the amount of work and in popularity.

Congrats again Borg on the new title. And don't worry about living up to it, you already have! The fact that you've done so on a 7 year old computer just blows my mind!

Marcey

Thank you so much for the compliment!

Update

Charley and LadyCFII made some good suggestions. Some people like having all their seeds sorted. Some people have a system for keeping seeds, for example putting rare seeds in the bottom tray. So now there is an option for the program to NOT sort all your seeds when it moves seeds back and forth between the virtual tray and the game.

Here is a picture of the latest version.


If there are no bugs in the new changes I hope to release this very very soon! Thank you all for being patient!

Can't wait to try the tray. Finally found the glabber, weeper, ... and now my seed boxes are unbelievebly full! lol

Hurry up borg

I'd like to test. I have a Mac, so that could be another platform to test in.

The Mac version won't be available for awhile yet, since Borg doesn't have a Mac to work on.

Virtual Seed Tray - A Plant Tycoon Seed Storage Utility




To download the Virtual Seed Tray utility, see this post in the Guides Section. This was written in Microsoft's Visual Studio, so if your computer does not have it (most do, some don't), you can download the required Microsoft .NET 2.0 HERE

Welcome!

Thank you for downloading Virtual Seed Tray. I hope you have as much fun using it as I had writing it.

First a word of warning - both the Virtual Seed Tray utility and the Plant Tycoon program modify the plant tycoon save game file. This can lead to corruption of data, which, in English, means loss of seeds. So before you run the Virtual Seed Tray utility, be absolutely certain you have exited the Plant Tycoon Game. Conversely, before you run the Plant Tycoon Game, completely exit the Virtual Seed Tray utility.

As this is a new utility, even though it has been beta-tested, there may still be some bugs in it. (the bad kind, not the collectible kind ) So I strongly urge everyone to completely backup all the plant tycoon save games before getting started with Virtual Seed Tray. Instructions for backing up and restoring the plant tycoon save games can be found in the plant tycoon guide forum HERE.

Virtual Seed Tray Tutorial

OK, if you have backed up all your save game files and you have downloaded the Virtual Seed Tray utility, you are ready!

Moving Seeds
1. Exit Plant Tycoon if you are playing.
2. Run the Virtual Seed Tray utility. At the top of the page you should see the number and name of your current game.
3. In the big box on the right, you should see the names of all the seeds you have in your seed storage trays on the Seed Page of Plant Tycoon. To the left of each seed name is a checkbox.
4. Click the checkbox next to the seed(s) you wish to move to storage. If you wish to check (or uncheck) ALL of the seeds in a box at once, click the checkbox above the box.
5. Click the <<< button to move the selected seeds to the big box on the left (the virtual seed storage tray that can hold a virtually unlimited number of seeds).
6. Press the SAVE button. This is the step most people (including me) forget to do and then they wonder why the seeds did not move
7. At this point we can use the drop down box at the top to select a different game to move seeds in, or we can remove lineages or change how things are sorted or saved (all of which are explained fully below) but in this case, just to fully cover the moving seeds topic, let's press EXIT and leave the utility.
8. Now, having completely EXITed the utility (so the utility is not running!), start Plant Tycoon. After it loads, go to the Seed Page and you should notice that the seeds you moved to virtual storage in the Virtual Seed Tray utility are indeed gone. If you followed this guide exactly, all the other seeds in the tray that you did not move will be in exactly the same spot you left them.



Sorting Seeds
In the example above, after seeds were moved about, the seeds that remained were left in exactly the same place. This is useful if a player has a system where they want to keep certain seeds in certain places in the seed tray. For example, some players may be keeping their tier IV seeds at the bottom and they do not want VST to move them. However, other players would rather have all the seeds sorted by foliage/flower or even alphabetically.
1. Exit Plant Tycoon completely.
2. After exiting Plant Tycoon completely, run the Virtual Seed Tray utility.
3. Click Options (or press Alt-O), and uncheck the option that says "when saving, don't mix existing seeds with new ones". If you wish your list alphabetically sorted, also uncheck the option that says "sort in breeding chart order, not alphabetically"
4. press SAVE. very important step. don't forget to press save, or nothing will happen.
5. completely exit Virtual Seed Tray. completely.
6. after exiting Virtual Seed Tray, run Plant Tycoon.
7. check your seed page. all your seeds will be at the bottom of your seed tray, sorted in order by foliage/flower (or alphabetically).

Removing Lineage
Don't you love those self-pollinated seeds that show the same picture of what the plant will grow up to be in both of the parent picture windows on the Seed Page? And, unless you are designing your own crossbreeding chart, don't you feel less love toward crossbred seeds whose parent pictures often look nothing like what the seed will grow up to be? Yes, it is not hard to find the parents on a crossbreeding chart and determine what the seed is. But who enjoys doing that? Wouldn't it be nice if you could remove the old parents from the seed and give it new parents that looked just like him? (her? er.. it?)
1. Look on the Seed Page in Plant Tycoon for a cross-bred seed that has different parents.
2. Exit Plant Tycoon. (notice a pattern here? )
3. Start VST utility.
4. put checkmarks next to the crossbred seeds (different parents) that you found in step 1 that you would like to modify. to modify ALL the seeds and not just those with checkmarks, uncheck the option "only remove lineage from seeds that are checked"
5. Press the Remove Lineage Button.
6. Read the warning that you will lose the information about the seeds parents if you are making your own crossbreeding chart.
7. Press OK if you have the parent information of that seed already written down, or if you are not making a crossbreeding chart. (otherwise press Cancel)
8. Read the Operation Completed message.
9. press SAVE. why do people (myself included) forget to do this?
10. EXIT the program completely.
11. Start Plant Tycoon
12. on the seed page, admire your seed that now has parent pictures that reflect the seeds true identity.

What the heck is a "Mystery Seed"
Seeds that you buy from the store, or seeds that you received when you first started a new plant tycoon game, do not appear to have parents. Maybe they had parents, but no one knows what they were. Players can use sfrose's seed guide to figure out the tier of the flower and the species of the foliage from the seed picture, but no one really knows what the seed is. The Virtual Seed Tray Utility therefore reports those seeds as "Mystery Seeds," so as not to spoil the game for players who want to figure out what the seeds are by planting them. The Virtual Seed Tray utility can still store and retrieve those seeds for you, but those seeds cannot have their lineage changed (which would also identify the seeds and spoil the game for some players).

Last Words

• This is a new utility and may still have bugs in it. When you reach important milestones in your plant tycoon games, make backups of your save game files. Only save seeds with the Virtual Seed Tray utility that you can afford to lose in case something goes wrong. For example, if you have 5 Tilia Reptans and you don't think you will need that seed for a while, if you have room, keep 1 seed in the plant tycoon game and put the other 4 in the Virtual Seed Tray storage. That way, just in case some error occurs, you will be able to recreate those 4 lost seeds.
• It is very important that you do not run both programs (Plant Tycoon the Game and Virtual Seed Tray the Utility) at the same time to prevent accidental duplication or loss of seeds.
• If you should have an error and would like to see it get fixed, please report the error to me via the existing thread in the plant tycoon forum. if you can't find that thread, start a new thread. if you don't hear back from me in a couple of days, send me a PM.

Living on the Edge
This is extra credit, it is not part of the tutorial, and you do not have to do it. This is an exercise designed to intentionally cause seeds to be lost. By doing this exercise, you will purposely lose seeds. Why do this? So that you will understand this problem in a mock game so that you will not repeat this by accident in one of your real games. To do this exercise you must have either an open slot to create a brand new game in, or an existing game that you were going to delete anyway, so that you can use that game to lose seeds without getting upset.
1. run Plant Tycoon.
2. Go to the Main page.
3. Click the Change button in the lower right.
4. pick an open slot and create a new game. if you do not have a new slot to create a new game in, but if you have a game you were planning to delete anyway, use that game. if all slots are taken with useful games, do not attempt this exercise - quit now.
5. after creating the game, when asked if you want help, click no. enter the game and go to the seed page. you should have 4 seeds there. those are the 4 seeds we are going to lose.
6. exit plant tycoon to save the game to the hard drive.
7. start Virtual Seed Tray.
8. Move 3 seeds from the box on the right to the box on the left (checkmark 3 seeds then click <<<)
9. press the SAVE button.
10. EXIT Virtual Seed Tray.
11. restart plant tycoon and return to the seed page. you should see one seed left (the other three are in
virtual storage in the Virtual Seed Tray utility program)
12. do not exit plant tycoon for purposes of this exercise designed to lose seeds. leave the game running.
13. start the virtual seed tray utility.
14. move the last seed from the box on the right to the box on the left (checkmark it and click <<<)
15. press the SAVE button.
16. EXIT Virtual Seed Tray.
17. now EXIT Plant Tycoon.
18. now restart the Virtual Seed Tray Program.
19. you will see the one seed in the right hand box, and NO SEEDS in the left hand box.
20. exit, Virtual Seed Tray then Run Plant Tycoon.
21. you will see one seed remaining on the Seed Tray screen.
22. 3 seeds were permanently lost because at one point both programs were running at the same time, which is a no-no this was a test game so there is little to cry over. Had this been a player's main game and if they had permanently lost hundreds of seeds saved in their virtual seed tray file, they would not be all too thrilled.
23. the exercise is finished. feel free to delete the test game you created for this exercise from Plant Tycoon, since it is missing 3 seeds.

OK, THIS REALLY IS THE LAST WORD - IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT RESTORING BACKED UP GAMES
a note about backup copies and Virtual Seed Tray. When you make backup copies of your Plant Tycoon games, make backup copies of the VSTray1-5.vst files that go with them. If you restore a Plant Tycoon Save Game, you MUST MUST MUST restore the matching VSTray1-5.vst file that goes with it. future or past VSTray1-5.vst files will not match the save game file, and all the seeds in the virtual storage will be lost.

Best Wishes,
-Borg

edit: added Deathwing's link to the Microsoft .NET 2.0 up top. Thank you, Deathwing!

Ok, When i download it, I try the "Open file" And this thing pops up and i cant open my file. Then i tried to "Save file" Same thing happens when i try to run the file. What am i doing wrong?

Crystal: The thing that pops up, does it say you must have .NET Framework to run this utility?

No. :P Can you give me the website to that .Net Framework thing?

If anyone is looking for .net framework Here is the link to download the program you need to run Borg's VST for PC.

Ah, Thank you very much!

Borg, thank you so much for a terrific program and well written tutorial!

I've downloaded, had a look-see, and am starting a new game with it.

i want one pleaseeeeeeeeee how do you order????

Brilliant!!!!!!! works great so far.
ty borg, just in time to, box was full,

Brilliant!!!!!!! works great so far.
ty borg, just in time to, box was full,

Sctigergrl11, this is a direct link to the announcement post on the previous page of this thread.

LadyCFII's edit: The utility is now available in the Plant Tycoon Guide section of the forum.

The link posted for the .NET frame thingy didnt work i downloaded it and then tried to run the virtual seed tray and it said that i didnt have the .NET frame.

CAN ANYONE HELP ME!!??

Which link did you use? There's a link to Microsoft's site in this post that will take you directly to the .NET Framework 2.0 download page.

I can't recall but is it possible that after you download the link from microsoft you have to run it?

When you clicked to download the microsoft link, did you pick Save to Disk, Run, Open, or did it not give you an option?

If it lets you pick an option, I think for microsoft the best option is Open or Run (usually for most programs you download you would want Save to Disk, but I think the microsoft one is a small program that then creates a stream to read the large download from one of several mirror sites)

I believe the .NET download is huge and would take at least 5 minutes to download and install. (I might be wrong, anyone know?) How long did it take when you downloaded it? If it was just a few seconds, you were downloading the small loading program that sets things up to download the real thing. Check your download folder and see if there is something that is new from microsoft today, and click it and run it to install .NET

I wish you much success. Keep us posted!
-Borg

This is such a great idea.

Thank you!

Is this for real? If so is there a time table on when it will be out.

I just installed the Seed Tray Utility. I chose to "RUN" the .NET application. It took a l-o-n-g time and I was kinda worried that I shouldn't have done it. I didn't have to reboot or anything. When I double clicked on the Virtual Seed Tray icon, it loaded right up. The only thing is that I am a visual person, so I recognize the plants by sight rather than so much by name. So that's kinda new for me. Plus, if I ever have any seeds that are crossbred and show both parents, I ditch them. And then save the actual seed. So that doesn't effect me at all. THIS IS A GREAT HELP FOR THE GAME!!! I tend to be a pack rat and want to save all the seeds.....especially if they are "pretty"!!! And now I can. THANKS BORG!!! I LOVE YA!!!

It is already available for you to download HERE
Now you won't have to ditch them. You will just love the "remove lineage" button which converts the pictures of both parents into a picture of what the plant will grow up to become!I love you too , and you are most welcome

Post deleted by qwerty

thanx borg!your the best!

There is another thing that the VST can be used for, and that is tracking which species you have discovered. To do that, all you need to do is make sure that you make seeds from every new species you discover and store one of each in the VST. Then it's fairly simple to scroll through and see which ones you have and which ones you're missing.

I hope to use it to keep track of breeding info. I was tiring of writing/typing breeding information and I believe the VST will work for me as long as I use seeds that show the parents and keep my seed trays organized. Needless to say, I was very excited with finding this thread a few days ago.

I tried to download .NET Framework from the link in the guides but all I get is a IE error page. I'll try another time.

Can't wait for the mac version . . .

Margi, that link works for me, but if you're having difficulty, go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads and the .NET Framework download is in the middle of the list of most popular downloads.

I tried it again and got the same IE error page. When reading the program description it says to delete previous programs. Is Microsoft Visual J# .NET Redistributable Package 1.1 the older version of the program?

Before I delete this I'll wait for an expert opinion.

The J# package you refer to is not the latest version and is an add-on component of the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 (which is also outdated).

Unless you are using applications that are dependent upon version 1.1, it should be safe to delete that version, install .NET Framework 2.0 and (if you need the J# Package for an application you're running) download the Visual J# 2.0 Redistributable Package-Second Edition for use with the Microsoft .NET Framework (x86) version 2.0 directly from Microsoft. It's pretty easy to find them on the Microsoft site (or you can Google them).

Thanks, Barbara. I don't think I'll try it for a couple of days; my brain isn't with me. I lost a very dear, special friend suddenly on Friday and, of course, dealing with this.

I'm very sorry to hear that, Margi. You will be in my prayers. Life, family, and friends come first, with computers and games w-a-a-a-y down on the list of priorities.

I just downloaded the Virtual Seed Tray and it works like a dream! Thanks so much! I am looking forward to the upgrade version.

there is now a new option in VST, "Don't Display Spoiler Information."



and this is now the default option when you first use the program. If this option is left checked, clicking on Tools>Chart will produce this:



to see the version of the chart that identifies the magic plants, tells you what plants you can breed from the seeds you have, and tells you how to breed them, uncheck the option.

-Cheers,
Borg

OH my that is another great addition! So now I can turn off the info and down the road when I get stuck I can sneak a peak.

Bec

Borg, you always out do yourself. Well Done, now went can I download it???



(PS I'll wait)

Virtual Seed Tray News

the latest incarnation of the program now shows you what plants you have already bred in the game by marking them with a salmon colored ring or a salmon colored dot.

to see how many plants you have breed, you can go to the Stats Page in the game and look for "Species Discovered."

here is a screen shot. since this is the non-[spoiler] thread, here is the non-spoiler picture:



Be aware that this feature is only available if you download the "spoiler" version of VST in the guide section. Yes, that's not a typo. The "spoiler" version of VST is the only version that makes charts. It can make both charts - a chart with spoiler information on it, or a chart without spoiler information on it, depending on what options are set (under the options drop down menu in the menu bar at the top).

To see the "non-spoiler" version of the chart (like the image above), run the spoiler-version of the program in the (default) non-spoiler mode. In english, this means that in the options drop down menu, don't change the option about hiding spoiler information.

However, if you wish to see the chart that tells you which plants you can breed based on what seeds you own, how to breed them, what the identity of the magic plants are, what prices you can charge, etc, uncheck the "hide spoilers" option in the options menu.

In the spoiler-version of VST, both the spoiler chart and the non-spoiler chart will show you what seeds you own and what plants you have already received credit for breeding in Plant Tycoon.

So to recap:

Non-Spoiler "Safe" version of VST:

• stores seeds

[Spoiler] version of VST:

• stores seeds
• can create a chart without spoiler information on it. this is the default mode.
• can create a chart with spoiler information on it. to do this you need to change the option to hide spoilers in the option drop down menu.
• see what plants you can breed based on what seeds you own
• find out how to breed them
• see the identity of the magic plants
• see the prices

If you do not wish to view the spoilers but would like to be able to see what plants you have already bred and see what seeds you own on a chart, you will still need to download the spoiler-version of the program. To do this you have to be clever. When you go to the link for the spoiler version of the program, scroll down quickly to the bottom where the link is to download the program, while at the same time looking at your feet so you do not inadvertantly read any of the spoilers .

Thank you Borg, the VSTray is a big help to me. I've only had PT for a week or so, so i am not as far as some of you. I have bred the Fabled Rose though. I cross pollenated plants not knowing what i would get. I put all my seeds in my tray & just grew the ones that i thought would look nice. By chance 2 of the seeds i planted came up with a $354 price tag ???? when it matured i had the Fabled Rose I've been pollenating them ever since to build up my money to buy nursery ect upgrades. I only have 1 of the 6 magic plants but am really enjoying the game...Thank you every one who have posted guides they're a great help to me..

it was fun writing VST, and it is very rewarding that others find it helpful. thank you. and thanks to everyone who helped me with it (looks in BB's direction)

please read the warnings that come with VST though, so you don't lose any seeds. it is very easy to accidently have PT running, move seeds in VST and press save - and that is how seeds get lost. (don't do that )

-Borg

I have added a file with pic of what came up when i tried getting it from winrar also. Hope this helps. Jane

This is what comes up when i click on my VSTray on my desk top now. Can you help please. Jane

i've never heard of this error before. maybe delete VST.exe, then download it again from ldw and see if that fixes it? maybe put VST in the same directory as your PT save games.

bbassistant, from searching google, is a log file created and updated by Motive Smartbridge as part of Motive Chorus Command. This is used as a help application by several broadband providers.

-Borg

Ok thanks, will try that & let you know what happens. Jane

Borg,
I've downloaded it again, saved to my PT folder also saved a copy in my backup PT folder. Hope it works & i've done it right. I only have the evaluation copy of WinRAR do you think that is why it mucked up? How do i get & what is the best unzip folder type to use for unzipping files to get at a good price? Hope you can help. Thanks again. Jane

Borg,
It looks as though all the seeds i took across in the old VST are in the new VSTray... I hope it all goes right for me this time. I must of done something to have changed last one. I'll try not to this time. Once again thank you, if i muck up i hope you wont mind me asking you for your help Jane

Jane, the best thing to use on zip files is built right into Windows XP and Vista. Simply double-click the zip file and it will display the contents of the zip file, or you can right-click on the zip file and select "Extract all" on the popup menu to use the unzip wizard.

i'm glad downloading it again worked, and glad you did not lose any seeds.

winrar is passe (out of date, antiquated). hmmm, how do i make the accent symbol in a ubb forum?

the latest buzz on the internet that everyone seems to agree is the best (and it is totally-no-strings-attached-free-open-source too), is:

7-zip

if you have regular windows XP or vista (most people have one of these), you want to click the top download button that is next to ".exe" and "32-bit."

if you have windows xp pro 64 bit or vista 64 bit, you want to click the second download button that is next to ".msi" and "x64." (eventually 64 bit will overtake 32 bit operating systems in the next few years, but for now since there are still a few compatibility issues, most computer builders and therefore most people have 32 bit operating systems.)

near the bottom of that page is a comparison of all the archiver programs, and 7-zip using .zip format compression beat them all, except winzip 10 beta (which is buggy and won't be free when it is stable and released).

-Borg

Hello,

I am still practising with the demo version of PT (dashed PayPal taking a week to verify!!) but I am very excited by the VST. The only problem is that I have a Mac. Is there a utility for the Mac?

Thanks,

PollyMT

I WILL ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i dont fall in love easily but LADY i love you when can i get my seed tray?

It's been available for over 5 months. Check out the first post of this thread, the one that starts out:

Maybe someday

Right now everyone's focus is on VV3

Cheers,
-Borg

I know!!!!!

To keep me busy I have purchased the full version of PT (got it today!). I have a nice spreadsheet from someone else so that will do me just now.

Thanks,

Polly